Kowloon

Kowloon, on the mainland facing Hong Kong Island across Victoria Harbour, has a less formal, more domestic feel. Most Hong Kongers live in the crammed streets of Kowloon, and the focus for visitors is Nathan Road's hotels and shops on the ...

Danny, the tour guide, was outstanding. He really knew the area and picked great places to try. He also made sure to accommodate special diets, specifically vegetarian. Definitely worth going. It's a very good introduction to the Kowloon area and the local food. Highly recommended.

This is the way to orient yourself with Hong Kong and decide where you want to explore further. Make sure you do the red tour first and follow that with the harbour cruise as the times work best. It's hot so the temptation to head upstairs and then into the covered area is high. Actually the upstairs covered area is stifling as there's no breeze; if you sit in the open area upstairs for the breeze and view, remember the umbrella for showers and sunscreen! At times people headed back downstairs, it was too hot.
We found the blue line starting point for busy Kowloon to be a bit iffy to find so just make sure you've allowed time to get to the start point and also if you go to the end of the blue line make sure you can find the pick up points again. The other lines were a breeze. The green Stanley line was such a contrast to the hustle and bustle, and we wish we'd allowed far more time. Definitely take your swimming costume if you fancy Ocean Park or Repulse Bay for a dip. We missed the sampan ride drop off point because we didn't have our audio on. Make sure you pick up your audio by the driver as you get on; there's no-one to hand them out and the driver doesn't make announcements. We highly recommend this tour; the Big Bus people are very helpful and it's the way to get around.

First of all I would recommend this tour and high marks for the staff. The Hop-on Hop-off tour employees were great. They were very welcoming and helpful and most of them spoke English. I had booked a two day tour and it took two full days to see everything that was listed on the tour. The extra items like the Victoria peak tram and the 30 minute boat ride were great. The Sampan ride was also interesting. Your ticket also includes four trips across the harbour from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island on the Star Ferry. You get a great view of the harbour. Its only about 10 minutes to cross the harbour but very nice. There is more to see on the Hong Kong Island side. I would suggest seeing this side first. The first stop on the Hong Kong Island side is Victoria Peak Tram. Get off first thing in the morning and this way you will miss the crowds. There is a fantastic view of the city from the Peak and there are also a lot of shops. You will need at least one hour or more to see everything at the top of the mountain. You have priority boarding going up, but not coming down. After leaving the peak take the bus that goes to Stanley and Aberdeen. After you go through a 2 mile tunnel you come out to the ocean and you look down on sandy beaches and secluded beaches. Its hard to believe you just came from a crowded city. Get off at the end of the Bay Area and take the Sampan tour. Its short but it gives you and idea what its like to live on a Sampan. Towards the end of the day go back across the bay to the Kowloon side to take the boat trip in the harbour. Well worth it. There are lots of spots to get off and sample the restaurant areas etc. There is also a ticket for the Marine Museum. I did everything listed for the tour and I had a great time.

Very small group for this trip made us all feel special and selected. Meal at the restaurant was excellent, couldn't fault the food or service. Views superb, seeing the night fall. Had time to look around and take great photos too afterwards. Then travelled back down and into the tunnel to Kowloon to go to Stanley Market. Had about 40/50 mins to explore, fun to see and haggle-amazing! Then onto collect our boat. Although were few others on this boat, very quiet. Drinks were okay but the guide was very informative, pointing out all sorts of things in the night scene, great way to see the skyline in the dark, all,lit up. Well,worth the money-all of it. Even my children enjoyed it, but a late night!

This is the best way to see quite a bit of Hong Kong and Kowloon for first time travelers to HK. I have used Viator hop-on hop-off tours in most of my trips in Europe and Asia specially when I it's my first trip to that place.

Thoroughly enjoyed this walking tour with our guide Stephen. he was very knowldegable and was able to answer all the questions we posed as we wandered through the various markets in the Mongkok area. A real added bonus is the Big Bus hop on - hop off bus ticket which enables you to tour the rest of Kowloon when the walking tour is finished. If you enjoy seeing the the "real" Kowlonn then this is a great way toi start. Great tour.

The Bib Bus Tour saved my continuous-rain-and-cold trip to Hong Kong! The contact people were very friendly, spoke good English, and gave me lots of good advise! The bus was my haven in the rain and a great way to navigate the area. Included in the two-day ticket were ferry tickets between Kowloon and Hong Kong as well as tickets for The Peak Tram, a sanpan ride, and a tour of Victoria Harbor. The Peak Tram and ferry tickets really fit the bill, however, the weather kept me from using the others.

I tend to get lost in big cities, so the Big Bus map came in handy getting directly to points of interest. I got to visit the villages of Stanley and Aberdeen as well as the Ladies Market for some shopping.

Although I was traveling as a retired (old) single female, the Big Bus would be great for families with young kids because there's lots of room on top and room inside for strollers and carts. Hong Kong really would be easy for a family to visit, if they had the advantage of the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus.

In sum, the Hop-on-Hop-off City Tour was everything I had hoped it to be.

I enjoyed this tour and everything that it was offered, I took the two days and I explitted between Nov. 27th and Nov.30, because in between I had other tours, the 27th was the first day and I wanted to familiarize with Kowloon and Hong Kong island, prior of taking the other tours, on the 30th I took the one going to Aberdeen and Stanley where I visited the Market, I recommend not to miss that part of the country side.

Loved it !! Only thing I would change is the constant back and forth from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island which happened about 4 or 5 times. Would have liked more time on the Peak (Bubba's was great by the way) and more time at the markets. We spent a lot of time on the bus and we all felt it was unnecessary. Harbour cruise was fab - loved to have incorporated the tour with the Laser show. Cheers, Julie

AMAZING .. well deffinetely go back again. I had the 48 hours tour and it was the best thing we did. the guides at the bus stop were friendly and informative but ladies guides were more friendly than guys and the kowloon people were smiling and soooo sweeet

I did enjoy this tour even tho'at the last minute I nearly pulled out because the weather was so bad. It's a shame we could not have been picked up from the Cosmopolitan as the bus drove passed there to get to the restaurant so that was a bit off putting The restaurant was really nice and far nicer than I expected as some of the reviews weren't real great. There was heaps of food and plenty of choice . I wish i could have tried everything but everything I had was very nice. The sweats were especially great so make sure you leave room for those. Drinks were not at all expensive as I was led to believe and service very good. Guide tended to repeat himself a fair bit but was full of knowledge about Hong Kong.The laser lights didn't impress me but maybe thats because it was so overcast The city is magnificent by twilight,just like a fairy story. The markets were good but it was a bit tiring going back and forth to Kowloon and Hong Kong Is. The ferry ride was very good and unlike previuos comments there was plenty on offer at the bar if we so wished. It's a shame there weren't more people on the ferry as I felt it was a long ride for so few people. Hong Kong is a beautiful City and this tour showed it off very well indeed.Many Thanks for making a great holiday memorable

Food was out of this world, and the sites were wonderful, it far exceeded our expectations. And the bonus was ending up at the market - not expected but brilliant. The icing on the cake was the boat trip, it was the last night of our trip and there was us, on a boat, viewing Hong Kong and Kowloon by night, breathtaking.

This is a great way to see all the main sights of Kowloon and Central islands. We would definitely recommend that you try to do all of the routes, as they are very different. The extra bonuses such as the Peak Tram ticket valid outside of the tour days, Sampan ride, and Star Ferry tickets are also fantastic.

We also had the night tour in our package, which was very good, though it is a shame there is only 1 night bus so it is not possible to do the hop-on hop-off part. It pretty much followed the Kowloon island day tour, and it was great to be able to see it all lit up at night.

Freat value for money as the ticket included not just the 3 bus trips but also a sampan ride, a Victoria Harbour cruise and a trip on the Star Ferry. If your time is limited then this trip will show you the best of the sights in 48 hours. The Kowloon route wasn't as good though and less informative, for example we were not told when we were at the Ladies Market stop and as a result missed.

An excellent way to see the main sights of Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. The prioritised entry to the peak tram and the harbour cruise were great bonuses .
My only criticism was the excessive speed taken around the narrow coast roads during the trip to Stanley and Aberdeen which spoiled the tour.

The Hong Kong tour was good though limiting in the fact that you had to listen to a taped version describing the tour as you went. Doesn't compare to NY tour where the amount of historical and contemporary detail was more entertaining with a live tour guide. The Kowloon tour was the poorest though but overall it was an enjoyable time.

Brilliant way to see the city of kowloon and Hong Kong Island. The bus routes were varied and showed off the different sides of Hong kong - from the busy streets of the city to the beautiful beach and bay areas. The information provided through the headsets was terrific!

We managed to get two tours in on our one day pass, one on Hong Kong Island and the other in Kowloon. We found both to be very interesting with an excellent commentary. Fortunately the day was warm and we were able to sit on top in the open which made for good photography.
Would thoroughly recommend these tours for first timers to Hong Kong before they 'go it alone'.

This was a great tour. It included more than we anticipated. We elected to take the 2 day package as it was a better deal. The hop-on hop-off bus was great and the audio explanations were good. We elected to add the night tour which is worth the extra money as the neon and lights at night were great! We did misunderstand though. We thought it was a boat trip but is is simply a buss trip back thru the tunnel to Kowloon at night.

The boat trip cruising Victoria Bay was okay but we were not allowed the one coffee or soft drink the participants got who purchased their tickets directly from Star Ferry.

The Sampan trip was great and not mentioned in your brochure. It was a pleasant surprise and very enjoyable.

The tram trip to Victoria Peak was interesting. It was JAMMED!!!!!!!! An absolute hoard of humanity. Periodically they close the tram for maintenance and this was the day before they closed it so perhaps that was the reason. Since we were on the BIG BUS, we were escorted closer to the front of the line and therefore our wait was only about 40 minutes. I'm sure some waited well over an hour. Get there early!!!!!

All in all your package was a good deal and we would encourage every tourist to consider it.

Administration was spot on. Vouchers and instructions awaited us on arrival at our hotel, pick up was pretty much on time - amazing given the traffic - and coach was clean , comfortable and well driven.
Due to other hotel pick ups there was rather too much criss crossing through the tunnel between Kowloon and the island, but without a second bus, this was inevitable. Meal at Bubba Gumps was fine, more TGI Friday than gourmet dining, but if you like staeks, ribs or prawns, no problem. (No veggie option though). market vivit was short and sweet, good for a recce but if you want a long browse round make a seperate trip. Boat trip was most enjoyable. Large craft, exclusive to our group of 24, free drinks lberally and rapidly served. A great way to spend or final evening in Hong Kong. Recommended.